Cultural Heritage Damage Assessment at Khirbet al-Khalde in a Longue Durée Perspective: Multiscalar Methodologies and Survey Results

Abstract

Fieldwork projects in the Middle East and North Africa are increasingly integrating a wide variety of methodologies, and often such rapidly developing approaches are results of the fragile situation in the region. While this trend, moving away from purely traditional approaches, is welcome and promises to open new avenues of investigation, the utilization of legacy data, which holds a vast trove of information, is often overlooked in the process of publishing results. Such legacy data can help us understand the sites in a more holistic way both before, during, and after fieldwork. This contribution advocates for the inclusion of legacy data as preparation for survey and fieldwork and shows in which ways the analysis of such data can aid the understanding of a site in its longue durée perspective, especially when integrated with other research approaches.